Review Detail

Art and words unite to tell the story of Hugo, an orphan who lives in the walls of a Paris train station in the 1930s. His is a lonely life as he maintains the station clocks and works on the automaton, a mechanical man he rescued from a burned-out museum. When the automaton is repaired, Hugo believes it will write him a note that will save his life. Hugo's world is disrupted when a toymaker confiscates his precious notebook--the one in which Hugo records notes on the automaton. Without it, he won't be able to repair the mechanical man.

This book is an amazing, unusual experience. The text of the story is amplified and carried via pages and pages of charcoal drawings, old photos, and movie stills. Interlocking mysteries pull the reader in; these are resolved in a satisfying yet not overly tidy manner, with an ending that made me smile (and brought a tear to my eye). Very highly recommended.